To all exchange and visiting students
Hello there!
It is now getting closer to your arrival in Bradford and we look forward to
meeting you and welcoming you in September.
Therefore, we would like to share some information with you and firstly for
those of you who are not already aware, we are pleased to confirm that the
pre-arrival guide is available on-line: http://www.bradford.ac.uk/international/preparingfor-your-arrival/
Please read this guide carefully, as it provides useful information for planning
your journey and there is a checklist of things that you are required to bring
with you. However, some of the information regarding orientation and
enrolment for international students refers ONLY to full-degree students and
therefore I will highlight some of the specific changes for exchange and visiting
non-degree students in the following text. There is also some additional
information, which we hope to make your life easier for the planning of your
arrival in Bradford and the UK.
We hope you have a very safe journey to the UK and once again we would like
to say that we look forward to welcoming you to Bradford in September.
If you have any queries regarding your study, please do not hesitate to contact
me or my colleagues at international-office@bradford.ac.uk
Best wishes and see you soon.
Safe journey!
Sue Bunney
International Co-ordinator for Study Abroad and Exchanges
PRE-ARRIVAL INFORMATION FOR
EXCHANGE AND VISITING STUDENTS
ACCOMMODATION:
If you have not done so already and would like to apply for a place in
University owned or approved accommodation (single study bedroom suitable
for unaccompanied students), please see the website for further details,
including the application form: http://www.brad.ac.uk/accommodation/
We recommend that you return your application form for accommodation as
soon as possible - the deadline date for guaranteed accommodation in the
student village (Green) is 17 August 2012. Please return the form by e-mail or
fax directly to the Accommodation Office and not the International Office.
If you are looking for private accommodation then please check this website:
http://www.brad.ac.uk/accommodation/private-rented-accommodation/.
There are lots of opportunities for getting a room in private accommodation
within easy walking distance of the main campus.
We have been notified by the Accommodation staff in the “Green” that
students who have already applied for accommodation in the Green will
receive offers of a place during the first half of August onwards.
Note: All ISEP students have a room reserved in Dennis Bellamy Hall, which is
private accommodation less than 10 minutes walk away from main campus.
All students should receive details from the accommodation provider of where
and when to collect your keys.
However, if you arrive out of normal working hours 08.00 – 18.00, or arrive
when the pick-up service is not available then you are advised to make your
way to the Richmond Building main reception and the security staff will direct
you to your accommodation from there. We recommend that you contact us
by e-mail: international-office@bradford.ac.uk to let us know so that we are
aware and can make sure that you have your key for your room or we can
arrange a temporary room for you.
Accommodation Costs
Please note : The minimum length of stay in Halls of Residence is generally one
semester. Student's who book accommodation for shorter periods, are likely
to be requested to pay the rate for one full semester. If you have further
queries regarding accommodation, you should contact the Accommodation
Office on +44 1274 234883/236124 or halls-ofresidence@bradford.ac.uk. There is a Helpline facility available between
Thursday 16th August and Friday 21st September to help assist with a wide
range of questions. Tel: +44 (0) 1274 234890
Bedding Packs
There will be bedding packs available for purchase from the Students’ Union
Shop in Student Central on main campus. The shop will be open up until 22.00
but the students’ union will be open up until the early hours of the morning so
late arrivers will be able to get the bedding too. The bedding pack will consist
of duvet, duvet cover, sheet, pillow and pillow case(s). The cost is £25 for a
single bed and £35 for a double bed. However, there will also be an
opportunity to go on a guided shopping trip at the local shopping centre or
book a ticket to travel to Ikea to purchase bedding if you wish. This will of
course depend on your arrival time at the University and whether you have the
energy to go shopping after a long flight in some cases!
ARRIVAL AND ORIENTATION:
It is strongly recommended that you plan your journey to arrive on Saturday 15
or no later than Sunday 16 September. Please note that the dates (12-14
September) referred to in the pre-arrival guide for the enrolment of
International Studies are for full degree students only and not for exchange or
visiting students. Therefore, it is optional whether you choose to arrive earlier
than 15 September – we are happy to meet you at last after all the e-mails and
telephone calls!
Please bear in mind that for those of you who are travelling a long distance
then you may suffer from jet lag and therefore should try to plan your journey
accordingly, so that you can attend and actually enjoy the orientation events
without suffering from too much tiredness.
Meet and Greet
The Students’ Union (UBU) will be organising the pick up service from Leeds
and Bradford airport and also Manchester airport. Therefore, please send an email to pick-me-up@bradford.ac.uk and include your Name, UB No (on your
offer letter) and flight details, i.e. airport and arrival time. The service will be
available from 12 September to 17 September. You must pre-book to reserve
a place.
On arrival at the University the student chaperones will then help you to find
your room in accommodation halls.
If you are making your own way to Bradford then please refer to Section 2 of
the pre-arrival guide.
Orientation Event
All students are required to attend the main Orientation Week – 17 to 21
September, as there are lots of things going on during this week that new
students need to be aware of. This also includes formal enrolment at the
University and the registration of classes.
There will be lots of Information Sessions each day between 12.00 and 13.00
providing lots of useful advice to students such as: health and safety, opening a
bank account, working in the UK, how to make your money go further and
much more. During the week there are also opportunities to do a campus
tour, city tour, shopping tour and visit places of interest in the local area.
The full Itinerary of events organised by the International Office will be
available on the International Office website shortly:
http://www.brad.ac.uk/international/ . You will be notified by the
International Office by e-mail when the Itinerary is available on the web
ENROLMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY:
All students are required to formally enrol before your status as a fully
registered student of the University of Bradford is confirmed. The FIRST part
of enrolment is done online and can be done before your arrival in Bradford.
You will be sent details by e-mail, of how to complete the first part of
enrolment at the end of August/early September directly from the University’s
Student Administration Support office (not the International
Office). Alternatively, you may do the first part of enrolment on arrival at the
University of Bradford, so if you experience problems with pre-enrolment at
home, then please do not worry about it as it can be sorted out easily . There
will be student helpers and members of staff on hand to assist you.
Please remember that your place is reserved here at the University regardless
of whether you complete pre-enrolment before you get here.
The SECOND part of enrolment for all exchange and visiting students will take
place during orientation week and there is a dedicated time slot for this on
Friday 21 September at 15.00. Therefore it is very important that you attend
the time allotted to the group of exchange and visiting students. You will be
provided with the details of where to go etc when you attend the Welcome
Meeting for Exchange and Visiting students on Monday 17 September. Please
bring original transcripts and English language certificates (if appropriate) with
you. If you have sent us originals with your application then we will have
these in our files. Once you have completed all stages of enrolment you will
be issued with a student ID card, which will give you access to the library,
computer centre and students union events
EXCHANGE AND VISITING STUDENTS WELCOME MEETING:
This will take place on Monday 17 September 2012 in J19 Richmond Building
on main campus at 13.30. You will meet various members of staff from across
the University and learn about the facilities and services provided and it is very
important that you attend this meeting. It is important that you attend this
meeting to meet key University contacts and to collect the information and
details for your departmental meeting.
FACEBOOK:
The International Office invites you to join our new facebook group, which is
specifically for incoming exchange students joining us in 2012-13. Please join
the group “Incoming Exchange Students 2012-13 – University of Bradford” to
find out further information.
HEALTH CARE IN THE UK:
Please note that there have been recent changes to the entitlement of free
health treatment on the National Health Service (NHS) for students who are
here for less than 6 months. There is information on the Student health
webpage:
http://www.bradfordstudenthealth.co.uk/overseas_entitlement.htm.
Therefore, all students should bring a copy of their health insurance
documents with them. Students will be able to register with the Student
Health Centre on arrival and receive medical advice.
INDUCTIONS IN THE ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS:
Copies of the departmental inductions and welcome meetings will be provided
at the main Welcome meeting for all exchange and visiting students on
Monday 17 September at 13.30 in J19 Richmond Building.
You will most likely be invited to meet the co-ordinator responsible for
exchange students separately to the departmental induction where you will be
able to discuss timetables and your choice of modules (courses) etc.
Academic matters
The academic timetables will be available from the International Student
Information Point as well as at the departmental inductions. You will have an
opportunity to meet staff in the departments to discuss your choice of
modules and you will be informed at the Welcome Meeting when you are
scheduled to meet with staff in the departments.
Modules (Courses)
Please note that you are expected to take at least 40 Bradford credits in one
department, which usually will be your major subject. A full study load is 60
Bradford credits. Courses numbers ending with an M are 10 credits, course
numbers ending with D or L are 20 credits. Some courses ending in L are not
always appropriate for students studying for one semester only and are subject
to special arrangements with the specific department involved.
Registration of Classes
This is done when you arrive at the University and not before. Erasmus
exchange students will be given a form to complete with their module (course)
selection and then they will hand it to the department, so that they can
register/enrol you for the classes during orientation week.
All other exchange and visiting students will be given a form to complete with
their course selection and will hand it in to the International Office who will
register/enrol you for the classes. The form will be given to you at the
Welcome Meeting on Monday 17 September.
Do not worry about classes becoming full as they will run additional classes if
necessary – this is the Bradford way of dealing with popular classes!
Support
All exchange students will have the support of the international office staff
who will be able to assist with timetables and module queries every afternoon
during orientation week.
You will have plenty of support whilst here; all students will be allocated a
personal tutor which is someone that you can go to for advice and you will
also be able to see the International Student Adviser or myself the Study
Abroad Co-ordinator if you have any concerns whilst here.
There will be plenty of opportunity to meet with the International Office
during welcome week. We will gladly fax back your Confirmation of Arrival
forms, changes to learning agreements etc to your home University for all
students who are required to do so.
Academic Calendar
SEMESTER 1 CALENDAR
Orientation:
Official Enrolment
For exchange students:
Semester 1:
Public Holidays:
12 - 25 September 2012
(17 - 23 September for Exchange and Visiting
Students)
21 September 2012 - Time to be confirmed
24 September 2012 - 18 January 2013
15 December 2012 - 6 January 2013
Examinations:
7 January – 18 January 2013
SEMESTER 2 CALENDAR
Orientation:
18 January 2013
Official Enrolment for
exchange students
joining in semester 2:
Semester 2:
18 January 2013
Public Holidays:
23 March 2013 - 7 April 2013
Examinations:
6 May – 24 May 2013
Supplementary
Examinations (Resits
12 - 23 August 2013
21 January 2013 - 24 May 2013
INTERNATIONAL STUDENT INFORMATION POINT:
The International Student Information Point proves to be very successful every
year with new students and is the place to be. Therefore, it is recommended
that you head for the Richmond Building on main campus - there will be plenty
of signs from the entrance of the Richmond Building to direct you to the room
where the International Student Information Point will be located. Student
helpers will be in the entrance of the main building to direct you too.
The Information Point will be open from 08.30 - 18.00 from 12 - 25 September
including weekends. There will be a team of student helpers and staff from
the International Office to welcome you and help with any queries that you
have. You will be able to pick up lots of information from there. There will be
a message board where you can pick up or leave messages for other students
or staff etc; campus tours and city trips will set off from this point. You will
also be able to purchase tickets for trips to local places of interest including
Saltaire - a World Heritage Site, Bolton Abbey/Skipton, York the capital of
Yorkshire and even Ikea to purchase items for your room! You can pick up
campus maps and city maps and bus timetables from here too.
Students who experience problems with pre-enrolment can obtain assistance
from the student helpers here at the Information Point.
All students have access to a University telephone in the International Student
Information Point so that you can call back home to let your parents know that
you have arrived safely.
OPENING A UK BANK ACCOUNT:
There will be representatives from various UK banks here during orientation
week. However, please note that students who are here for less than 6
months sometimes have difficulties in opening a UK bank account. Santander
seems to be the only bank that will permit students here on short term study
periods to open an account in the UK.
Therefore, you are advised to make alternative arrangements for accessing
money whilst in the UK and discuss this with your own bank before you arrive
to make sure that you are prepared.
ISEP students will be sent information separately about the payment of
stipends.
STUDENTS’ UNION – (UBU):
The orientation period is also referred to as “Freshers” and there are lots of
events organised by the Students Union too. We advise you to keep checking
the Students’ Union webpages (UBU) - http://www.ubuonline.co.uk/ for
further information.
STUDY ABROAD FAIR:
Each year we host our Study Abroad Fair in October and we rely on all our
incoming exchange students and returning Bradford exchange students to help
us to promote our partner institutions, their city and country. Therefore, if you
could bring with you some small promotional items that will not take up much
room in your suitcase then that would be great.
However, we will also be contacting your home University International Office
to send us a PowerPoint presentation, video or promotional brochures, which
will help us to encourage Bradford students to think about studying abroad.
We have great fun each year at the event and there are lots of prizes to be
won for participants. Further details will be sent nearer to the time once you
are settled in Bradford.
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